Office of the Major

The position of Major was established in 2011 to oversee the Office of the Major, with the duties and responsibilities of assisting the Chief of Police in planning and directing the day to day operation of the Police Department.

Additionally, the Major is responsible for making promotional recommendations to the Chief of Police and ensuring the chain of command between the Chief of Police and department members is maintained. The overall responsibility for ensuring that all reports are submitted on time to the Chief of Police and are reviewed for accuracy and content also falls to the Major. The Major is largely responsible for assisting the Chief of Police with budget preparation and providing information regarding any issues concerning the department. The Major is expected to advise and assist officers and investigators in any non-routine investigations and address other police related issues. The Operations and Support Services Bureau Captains also report directly to the Major.

The Office of the Major oversees the Community Relations Unit, the Internal Affairs Unit and the management of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Incorporated (CALEA) program and the Georgia State Law Enforcement Certification program.

Internal Affairs Unit

The Internal Affairs Unit is responsible for the investigation of complaints against Police Department employees as well as complaints filed against other city departments’ employees. In addition, the Internal Affairs Unit conducts background investigations on potential employees and participates in the hiring process from beginning to end and also participates in recruitment activities.

Community Relations Unit

The Community Relations Unit is a component of the department tasked to work diligently to provide suggestions and update practices used for the security of persons and property, the preservation of public tranquility, educating and training the community and businesses and remaining active in public organizations and community functions.

Crime Prevention takes a proactive approach to preventing criminal activity. The belief that preventing a crime from occurring being far less costly than investigating and prosecuting the criminal remains the standard in the industry of crime prevention. Therefore, the Community Relations Unit also provides Crime Analysis and serves as the Public Information Office (PIO) of the department.

The purpose of Crime Analysis is to analyze crimes within geographical areas using data obtained through incident reports provided by our Criminal Investigations Division. Through these Crime Analysis reports our Operations Bureau is able to target harden areas with the most criminal activity.

The purpose of the Public Information Office is to be the liaison between the police department and the media. It is the intent of the Gainesville Police Department to maintain the highest level of cooperation between its members and those of the news media while disseminating only that information which, by its nature, is considered "Public Information".

Accreditation and Certification Unit

The Accreditation and Certification Unit is responsible for managing, coordinating, and supervising the efforts of the Gainesville Police Department to maintain its accredited/certified status and achieving re-accreditation/re-certification. The Accreditation/Certification Manager interprets standards that have been established by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies/State Certification program and develops, coordinates, and initiates programs to bring the Gainesville Police Department into compliance with the standards. This unit also researches and develops new departmental policies and procedures, reviews them with the Chief of Police and initiates them after approval.

The Gainesville Police Department is both State Certified and Internationally Accredited.

The State Certification is through the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. Certification is a progressive and time-proven way of helping law enforcement agencies calculate and improve their overall performance. The foundation of certification lies in the promulgation of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives. Participating agencies conduct a thorough self-analysis to determine how existing operations can be adapted to meet these objectives. When procedures are in place, a team of trained assessors verifies that applicable standards have been successfully implemented. The process culminates with a decision by a joint executive committee that the agency has met the requirements for certification. Certification status represents a significant professional achievement. Certification acknowledges the implementation of policies and procedures that are conceptually sound and operationally effective. The Gainesville Police Department has been State Certified since August 1997. The Gainesville Police Department was one of the original nine agencies to become State Certified.

The Law Enforcement Accreditation Program was the first credentialing program established by (CALEA) after its founding. It was originally developed to address what was seen as a need to enhance law enforcement as a profession and to improve law enforcement. That mission continues today. The program is open to all types of law enforcement agencies, on an international basis. It provides a process to systematically conduct an internal review and assessment of the agencies’ policies and procedures, and make adjustments wherever necessary to meet a body of internationally accepted standards.

The Gainesville Police Department has been CALEA Accredited since 1993. The department was the 250th agency in the Nation to be Internationally Accredited and the 11th in the State of Georgia. For more information please go to the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police at gachiefs.com or CALEA at calea.org.